Purdue Basketball to Play Rutgers in 2023 Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinals
CHICAGO — A dominant second half propelled Rutgers past Michigan in a 62-50 win on Thursday in the second round of the 2023 Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament at the United Center.
The Scarlet Knights held the Wolverines to just 4-of-21 from the field after trailing 28-25 at halftime. All eight players that stepped onto the floor for Rutgers logged at least two points, led by senior Cam Spencer (18) and freshman Derek Simpson (13).
Michigan junior center Hunter Dickinson scored a game-high 24 points on 8-of-17 shooting while pulling down seven rebounds and dishing out five assists, but his effort wasn't enough to come away with a victory.
The Scarlet Knights move on to the quarterfinals, where they will get a rematch against No. 1 seed Purdue. The Boilermakers lost 65-64 back on Jan. 2 at Mackey Arena, marking their first defeat after starting the season 13-0 and taking the top spot in the national rankings.
"It sucked, especially losing at home when you got such good fans and the experience that we have at Mackey," Purdue redshirt freshman Trey Kaufman-Renn said. "We should almost never lose at home."
Purdue has lost five of its last six games against Rutgers dating back to 2020. The Scarlet Knights have knocked off the No. 1-ranked Boilermakers in each of the last two seasons.
In a matchup between the two teams on Dec. 9, 2021, in Piscataway, Rutgers hit a half-court buzzer-beater to win 70-68.
The Scarlet Knights have played the last nine games without starting third-year forward Mowat Mag, who suffered a torn ACL in a 61-55 win against Michigan State on Feb. 4. The team lost six of eight to end the regular season before defeating the Wolverines on Thursday.
Mag averaged 7.8 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game for Rutgers this season and was a standout on the defensive end of the floor.
"He's just gotten better each year and made improvements," Purdue coach Matt Painter said. "It was sad to see him go down and miss the rest of the year, but you can kind of see from how they've played that they really miss him."
Purdue had two days of rest thanks to a double-bye and will begin its postseason journey against Rutgers in the Big Ten Tournament at noon ET on Friday. The game will be televised on the Big Ten Network.
"The experience playing on a neutral site against those good teams again, I think it's going to be helpful," Purdue freshman point guard Braden Smith said. "Because once we get into the [NCAA Tournament], we're going to start playing those teams, and you just have to get used to it and kind of create your own energy."
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